The invention relates generally to amusement devices and more particularly to an amusement ball and ball covering material for making balls which have both a soft pliable surface texture and good reboundability.
Inflated or air-filled balls are desirable amusement devices suitable for many activities. For example, a volleyball made by Aviva Sport, Inc. is made with an inner membrane shell in the form of an inflatable bladder surrounded by a very thin layer of foam material beneath a non-stretchable outer skin. The Aviva ball has good bounce, but it feels hard because the foam layer is so thin. Other inflated balls also have a hard feel.
Foam balls, on the other hand, have a soft feel. However, the foam absorbs a great deal of the energy imparted to the ball as it is bounced against the ground or other objects. Therefore, foam balls have limited bounce.
Thus, the trade-off in the design of balls has heretofore been between the softness of the ball and its reboundability. Foam balls tend to be comparatively "dead" and do not rebound as well as inflated, hard-skinned balls such as basketballs or the like.
It would be advantageous to have a soft amusement ball which offers the benefits of lightness and softness but which also is "lively" and reboundable, in comparison with prior art soft skin balls.
It would also be advantageous to have a soft skin ball which has a pleasing texture and feel and is inexpensive to produce.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an amusement ball with both a soft exterior and good rebound characteristics. The ball comprises a resilient inner body and at least one layer of foam surrounding the inner body for imparting softness to the exterior of the ball. An outer layer of covering material covers the ball. The outer layer includes at least a portion of stretchable cloth fabric whereby the outer layer stretches when the ball is rebounded to reduce the loss of rebounding energy which would otherwise occur due to compression of the foam surrounding the inner body.
In its preferred form, the invention employs stretchable cloth fabric in the outer covering material designed to accommodate at least twenty-five percent (25%) elongation of the fabric in all directions. A knitted fabric in which at least five percent (5%) of the fabric strands are elastic is suitable for that purpose. The outer covering material can be entirely formed of the stretchable cloth fabric or can incorporate as little as approximately twenty percent (20%) stretchable cloth fabric, with the remainder of the outer covering material being a substantially less stretchable material such as a conventional woven fabric. If less than the entire outer surface of the ball is covered with stretchable cloth fabric, it is preferred that regions of stretchable cloth fabric be distributed generally evenly around the ball, intermixed with other regions of substantially less stretchable sheet material such as nonstretchable fabric. The regions of stretchable cloth fabric and the less stretchable sheet material can be joined together by stitching or by a similar joining technique.